


La couronne de laurier

by Imaed



Category: Mulan (1998)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Male-Female Friendship, Mention of abuse, Period-Typical Sexism, mention of depression, mention of genderqueer character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-01-26 21:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12567068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imaed/pseuds/Imaed
Summary: What is an identity?Her family is proud and honored by her deeds, of course they are and they love her with their whole heart; they just don’t know where she stands anymore.To be honest Mulan doesn’t know where she stands either.





	1. There is no place like home

**Author's Note:**

> 2 days early for NaNoWriMo and almost 5k already written in one day... I can't believe myself sometimes. *sighs*  
> Anyway, this one was a delighting surprise a,d I hope you will like it the way I did.  
> I had rewatch Mulan last week and notice how great it would have been to know what happened after she cames back... So here it is.

Being home is a relief and a pain simultaneously. 

She relishes in her fine silk robes and warm meals while she dearly misses the easy companionship of her friends and the soreness of her muscles. 

Mushu is helpful as ever. 

“Back home with all the honors” he says “still not where we belong.” She smiles at him, he is still the best friend she could ask for. 

What is an identity?

Her family is proud and honored by her deeds, of course they are and they love her with their whole heart; they just don’t know where she stands anymore. 

Her Mother looks at her with worry and a hint of disapprobation when Mulan goes out for hours to help with the farm and end up practicing martial arts. She watches how her daughter sweats under the harsh sun unbothered by her tanned skin and her calloused hands. To appease her mother’s mind, Mulan tries extra hard not to spill any tea when she is caught, more often than not her muscle are shaking from exhaustion and she fails miserably. 

Mulan doesn’t stay with her Father the way she used to. She had always appreciated his jokes and his wit best and now she has come-backs for most of it. They burn her tongue and when she can’t help but let them flow out of her mouth she remembers she is not surrounded by her friends. She suffers through her father surprised look and doesn’t stay long enough to see him look disappointed on her behavior.

She tries her best to be a good daughter; she cooks, she cleans, she sews, she embroiders. It is a respite after all the fighting. However, being a daughter means she has to keep her opinion for herself; she has to stay calm and appear like a delicate flower. So she hides to trains her body like she used to; to wield her sword and meditates on battle strategy. If she doesn’t, her body feels tensed like a qinqin. She has just enough energy left in her to keep her temper and her manners in check. 

To be honest Mulan doesn’t know where she stands either.

Her Grandma hushes the rumors before they come to her granddaughter’s ears – even though Mulan hears the whispers - and let her practice in her garden, out of unkind eyes. She whispers that one day she will settle, if it is not now it will be later. In her own way she has always been encouraging her free spirit. 

When Shang visits, they collectively hold their breath. Shang is charming and a bit unsure of his welcome. Mulan invites him to dinner without a thought. Her father looks pleased. 

They give her a stern look, warning her to not spoil the occasion. Her mother succeeded in dressing her appropriately, put some white on her face and red on her lips. She wears jewelry and finery; she probably looks like that dreadful day when she met the matchmaker. She is expected to serve tea, to be quiet and poised. She is expected to act coy, to blush and shy away from his attention.

What she wants is to ride long and hard with him by her side, free of worry and proprierty; she wants to talk about the destroyed villages and how they fare, she wants to argue and express her opinion. 

“You have been quiet tonight” comments Shang when the diner is over and her family retired in a close room. 

She shrugs and cast a careful peek toward her family. She can feel the weight of their expectations. 

Her nerves must be obvious to him since he lowers his voice and says.

“The others are missing you” 

“I miss them too” she smiles fondly. She misses Ling lewed jokes, Chien-Po’s calm demeanor and Yao’s brashness. It should be incredibly daring for her to visit them now, an unmarried woman in the company of three unmarried men. Besides she is not sure her parents will ever let her out of their sight now. 

“So… I heard you were promoted?” 

“The Emperor asked me to stay by his side” winces Shang. “I’m almost sure I would have preferred to go back fight the Huns.”

Mulan smiles discreetly. 

“Are all the noblemen like Chi Fu?” she asks playfully.

“Worse” sighs Shang.

She lets a small laugh escape from their prison of flesh and propriety. Right away she hears her mother clearing her throat, calling her to order. She forces her features back on a more neutral setting. From the corner of her eyes she can see her former captain’s contemplative face. 

Mulan is not sure if she should feel flattered. This… woman in front of Shang is not her; she is been painted and dressed as a doll. She feels almost guilty playing this persona in front of him, ashamed of her own deception. 

She can hear her grandma whispers about weddings. 

“What about you?” asks Shang genuinely. “How are you faring?”

She almost says that she would also prefer to go back on the Tung Show Pass than pretend to be someone she is not, better that than to see how her parents don’t know what to do with her now that she is returned. But she is a good daughter and she smiles.

“Life is good” she lies. “I’m happy to be with my family again” She wishes it to be true. 

Shang has no reason to doubt her word but for a terrible moment she doesn’t know if she wants him to see through her lie or not. 

“It’s late” finally says Shang. “I should take my leave.”

She rises from her seat as elegantly as she can and her parents join them, walking the now General to the door. 

She bows properly in front of Shang under his scrutinizing stare. 

He leaves without another word to her.

“It could have gone better” comments her mother. 

“It could have gone worse” reprimands her own mother. “Now get your face washed” she directs to Mulan. 

She finds Mushu and Crickee waiting for her in the washroom. 

“I have to agree with your mother for this once” says the dragon.

Mulan doesn’t bother to answer him, she undresses without a word and dive herself in the cold water. If her training was good for one thing it was making sure she was grateful for a bath. 

“Maybe going home wasn’t such a good idea” mutters Mushu. 

“Not helping” comments the woman. 

They stay silent for a long while, Mulan feels more than she sees the cold scale of her guardian slide against her neck, providing little warmth but plenty of comfort.

“What am I going to do?” she asks out loud. 

Forget fighting the barbarians, this was the easy part. How was she supposed to live now? Who was she supposed to fight now? 

“It’s probably not too late to accept the Emperor’s proposition.”

She laughs without any mirth but she breathes a little better. She will train tomorrow just before dawn so nobody will see her. It will do her good.


	2. Half a step forward

The next day brings Ling of all people. He is dressed well and politely asks for her.

She refrains from running to hug him; Ling has no such limitations and hugs her like his life depends on it. She revels in it under the scandalized look her family sends their way. 

“It’s good to see you!” he shouts “Life has been incredibly dull since our little Ping left us.”

“Mulan!” lectures her mother and Mulan shrinks from her disapproving tone. 

Ling lets her go but stays close, leaning toward her like he used to when she was Ping. He was always whispering little bits of gossip or comments that would make her alternatively laugh and blush. 

“Let’s go for a walk” says Mulan while she puts her walking boots quickly, hoping to leave before her mother berate her for her behavior. 

They run out of the yard but not before Mulan has heard the word “inappropriate” at least twice. 

As soon as they are out of view, she relaxes and bumps her shoulder against Ling. 

“I have to say, this is not how I imagine your parents” says Ling with a smirk.

“How did you imagine them?” asks Mulan curiously. She is not sure she wants to know the answer but Ling always had the best jokes. 

“More like you.”

She doesn’t know what to do with his comment so she stays quiet. 

“The General came back last night looking very disturbed” explains Ling. “Of course it was our duty as his trusted soldiers to know what was hailing him.”

She smiles good-naturedly even if her heart doubles its speed.

“Of course he was not very forthcoming” mourns Ling. “Only said he had visited you. Went straight into his tent after that. We thought it would be best to send a scout to see with our own eyes.”

“I suppose you volunteered” says Mulan. 

“Are you kidding? I won fair and square against Yao and Chien-Po to be the first coming to visit you.”

She stares at him, surprised and pleased. She smiles so wildly she fears it’s going to cut her face in two. 

“Could not let one of those animals come into such a civilized part of the country; they lack any kind of charm.”

She punches Ling on his shoulder playfully and starts running when he tries to retaliate. 

After a mile she trips on her skirt and tumbles into the dirt. Ling takes a second to catch her up and lie down next to her. 

“So… What is it like to have breast?” asks Ling. 

Mulan laughs and laughs under his expectant stare.

“Mostly uncomfortable” she answers. “It gets in the way all the time and I can’t run properly without banding them.”

“Just like men sack then.”

She laughs some more and Ling looks please with himself. 

“I can’t believe you hide it from us from so long” he says. “You were the least I would have suspect. Incapable of lying from the very beginning. ALL THE LORDS … this is the reason why you never pissed with us right?”

“Don’t think too much about it” she advises.

“And the time when we find you in the lake, you were naked…. WE WERE NAKED TOO.”

“I told you” says Mulan smugly. 

Ling joins her in her laugh. 

“Yao will be so mortified when I will tell him.”

She sobers tiny bit by tiny bits, happy to laze on the soft grass under a warm sun.

“It doesn’t bother you then?” she asks almost seriously. “That I am a woman?”

“Why would it bother me?” returns Ling. “Does it change that you were the first to get to the arrow? Or that you saved us all from an army of Angry Huns? And then, saved the Emperor while you had been discarded by your commanding officer and most of your friends?’

“For certain people it does” she answers quietly.

“Well I can assure you, it doesn’t for us.”

She almost lets herself cry, but this moment is not for tears it is for laugh.

When she comes back home her hair is a mess, her dress is ragged but she is happy beyond words. She ignores her Mother scandalized look and goes inside to take care of her duties.

She feels Mushu slipping below her skirt and climbing to her throat basking in her good mood. They start singing softly, remembering a long walk up in the snow.


	3. Home again

Nobody tells her it’s not proper, nobody demands her to be quiet or composed. Mulan is happy for a few days without reserve. 

Her father is the first who calls her out. She doesn’t find the energy to worry until she sees his serious look.

It seems her reaction makes her father more annoyed. They sit in silence under the falling flowers. She respectfully waits for him to admonish her.

Soon the peach tree will be naked; its long branch will go to sleep and peacefully wait for a new spring. She wonders if her life follows the seasons; is she about to enter in a long and painful winter after such an eventful summer and fall? Will it take another war to get her a new spring? Perish the thought.

“Mulan” calls her father. 

She gathers her thoughts and focus on her father. He seems a little more resolute now.

She bends her neck, trying to hide her reaction. She very much feels like that fateful day her contingency discovered she was a woman; waiting the judgment, witnessing their betrayal. 

“Are you happy here?”

Mulan suddenly rises her head, so thoroughly surprised she doesn’t even think about her answer.

“I don’t know.”

They both look as shocked as the other. 

Her father is the first to gather his mind.

“Why?” he asks, without any inclination in his voice.

She takes the time to think over her answer this time.

“It used to be easier”

Her father nods and encourages her to keep going.

“I didn't know what it meant to belong” she says quietly.

“You left your home not knowing who you were” comments Zhou. “And came back knowing too well.”

Mulan watches the scenery, trying to calm her nerves. 

“You Mother think it is reversible. I think who you became to accomplish what you did cannot be undone. Could you go back to the person you were?” asks his father.

She tenses almost painfully. She feels her eyes filling with tears of shame.

“I’m trying” she whispers. 

She had felt so confident a fortnight ago, so strong when surrounded by her friends and her Captain. 

“I wish I could be what you wanted me to be” she admits. 

Her father frowns, clearly not pleased by her words.

“What is it that you want to be Mulan?” he asks plainly. 

She closes her eyes and sees long days cuddling her mother while she explains how to sew with silk threads. She sees her grandma crossing the road without looking while Mulan follows her to the market place. She sees her father reading and asking her philosophical questions while she serves tea.

“A daughter” she answers. “Who can honor her family and still be herself”

She opens her eyes and continues.

“A soldier, who defend her country and is trusted by her pairs”

She rises on her feet and walk a thousand miles in the snow, warm from her friends’ closeness in heart and body.

“A friend who can welcome and tease and fight without fear of being shamed for her behavior.”

She turns toward the trees and sees a man so sure of his own strength in battle and so insecure with his words. 

“Maybe a wife someday”

She looks straight in her father eyes. 

“I want to be Mulan.”

Fa Zhou nods to himself and gets up. Slowly, cautiously he bends his head, just like he would have to welcome an equal. Mulan mimics him after a first minute of surprise.

“Welcome home Mulan” says his father.


	4. Counterattack

They walk back to the main house and her mother is waiting.

“Mulan is allowed to see her friends” are the first word her father says. 

Her mother looks furious and is about to tell her husband exactly why but Fa Zhou stops her gently.

“She is not just our daughter anymore” he states. “Next time Wang Ling, Wu Yao or Luo Chien-Po come they are to be let in.”

“You have been keeping them from me?” asks Mulan both shocked and angry.

“Have you not seen how this unmannered …. Excuse for a man disgraced her the other day? Holding her like some… I won’t allow it.”

Her mother looks angrier now that Mulan has ever seen. 

“He holds her like a shield mate” explains Fa Zhou. 

“It is not honorable” insists his wife. 

“Mother” interrupts Mulan. “I can assure you Ling has no malicious intentions toward me. He is my good friend just as Chien-Po and Yao. We fought together like kinship and nothing else.”

“Why don’t we invite them over dinner so we can assess the nature of their intention” suggests her grandmother. 

Mulan tenses and tries to hold back her protests. Her friends are not exactly the society her parents are used too; even if Ling appeared cleaner and nicer than his usual when he had visited. Chien-Po could pass as a proper citizen with a modicum of manners but could she imagine Yao sipping tea from a small cup while talking about the weather?

No.

“I know of their intentions, they see that Mulan is favored by the Emperor. They want to use her to their advantage.” 

“Mother, can’t you trust me in knowing if I can trust them?”

Her mother scoffs. 

“You don’t know men like I do” she retorts. “You are too young to see the difference.”

“See them” pleads Mulan finally. “See how genuinely they care for me and how innocent this care is.”

She turns to her father, testing his words from earlier.

“I bare the same affection to them. I won’t be separated from them” she says defiantly.

Fa Zhou holds his hand and the arguments stops from all sides. 

“We shall meet them. However diner might be too forward. Let Mulan invite them over tea for the afternoon. If you find them acceptable, then we will call for a dinner. If their behavior is acceptable and their intentions as pure as Mulan describe then I see no reason to stop them from seeing each other.”

They all watch each other until Fa Li yields to her husband’s decision.


	5. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Fa Li's point of view, everythings seems darker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Careful, there is a mention of rape to an OC, which is not canon in the least.

Their daughter was tending to the dreadful horse. 

Li has been horrified to see her daughter ride such a dangerous animal but under the patient tutelage of her father Mulan had flourished. She was as much a good rider as her father in his glorious days.

Zhou had always been too soft with Mulan; now more than ever. Since she came back from the battlefront Mulan had been different. She had polished her skills and looked more like a soldier than a proper bride-to-be.

Heroes were meant to be husbands not _wives_.

Women were not meant to be surrounded by so many men. It was dangerous. It was always a tragedy. 

“You are worried” commented her mother. 

Li held her tongue but she washed her husband clothes a little rougher than she would have usually. 

“She is different from your sister” said Li’s mother. Diving the fabric into hot water, Li refused to think about her sister. “She was attacked” continued her mother. 

“My daughter won’t be sullied by those animals” growled Li. 

She rasped her fingers against the washboard and hissed at the pain. 

“Have you seen your girl lately?” asked tartly the old woman. “Really seen her? She is strong enough to handle whatever is thrown at her.”

Li turned furiously against her mother. 

“Do you think it will make it better?” she shouted. “Do you think that seeing her like a threat won’t make it worse? That they won’t try to prove their strength against her?”

“Then why deprive her from allies?” shouted back her mother.

“The sooner she will be wed” started Li.

“When is it that you stopped seeing Mulan and started seeing Mei?”

They both stared at each other darkly.

“You might have lost your sister” reminded the old woman “but I have lost my daughter. If I can forgive mankind for what a few of the rotten one did to my little girl, so can you.”

Li watched her mother leave the washroom. She had been hard on Mulan like any mother would on her daughter. She would protect her against the world; even against herself if she had to.


	6. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Yao's perspective, everything is wrong.

The messenger arrived around midday.   
Or maybe he waited for them to finish their training, Yao is not very sure. 

To be honest Yao was upset and when he was upset there was not a lot he paid attention to. That why he had Ling and Chien-Po and _Ping_.

Or Mulan whatever. 

Now, one of them was absent and Yao was unbalanced, snappish. He almost cracked one of the newbies ribs today. Of course he didn’t – probably thanks to the General intervention. 

Yao smiled roguely. 

At least he wasn’t the only one being unbalanced by Ping’s absence. Mulan dammit! 

The General Li had been a nightmare since he had come back from his uptight dinner with the Fa clan. 

Anyway, the messenger. He bore the Fa colors and held his message to Ling. Ling accepted and forgot to pay for the service. Of course Chien-Po had thought ahead and thanked the man but nobody payed him. _Ping_ would have remembered to bring money. 

Yao tried to relax and waited for Ling to read the letter out loud. Yao was not proud of it but he was a little weak when it came to his letter. He betted Ping knew his letters perfectly. 

They needed him back. Her whatever. 

Ling was paling, it was never good news. 

“What?” asked Yao. He wasn’t sure he had the patience to wait for his friend’s little show. It was amusing most of the time, now it was just annoying. He needed to know. 

“We are cordially invited for tea this afternoon by Fa Zhou and Fa Li to see if we are suitable friends for Mulan” said Ling finally. 

Chien-Po breathed out in relief. Yao loosened his fist. 

They had all been forbidden to come back to the Fa house after Ling first visit. Yao had been less than pleased when the servant had told him that. He had come back at the camp and shouted at Ling for almost an hour. Ling suggested that Yao had been rude. When Chien-Powent, the day after he received the same answer. _Chien-Po_. Then Ling went back and no one opened the door to him. This is when they started to worry. 

“Why are you so worried?” asked the giant. 

“It sounds a little final to me” wined Ling. “to see if we are suitable friends for Mulan”he quotes. “What will happen if we are not deemed suitable?”

“They can’t keep her imprisoned forever” growled Yao. “We could rescue her.”

“From her own family?” asked Chien-Po.

“The General would help” answered Yao with conviction. 

Ling nodded. They would have done it without a second thought. They would not need to though. It was good; rescuing people was a thirsty business. 

“What are we waiting for?” asked Yao. “Let’s go to their tea thing.”

Ling and Chien-Po looked at him critically. 

“What?


	7. Marcher droit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your kind comments, I'm trying my best to update not too irregularly but it's against my nature haha. Hope you will enjoy this one. The next is one of my favorite.

When she hears the knock on the door, Mulan almost jumps on her feet. 

It’s been _forever_ since she last saw Yao and Chien-Po and she can’t wait. She has only known for their formal prohibition to meet with her a few hours ago but she feels their absence with each passing minute.

When they finally arrive in the room dedicated to tea time, Mulan cannot stop a guff of laugher out of her mouth. 

They look magnificent; wearing the best clothes they owned without a doubt. They even braid Yao’s mustache. It’s only because she knows them so well that she sees how nervous they are under the bravado.

She smiles and without a second though, or a glance to her parent she rises on her feet and hugs the three of them. 

She feels Yao relax against her stomach, hears Ling’s small laugh against her ear and see Chien-Po cheeks, redden by his happiness. 

Finally her father clears his throat and she is grateful. She turns to face her parents and introduce her friends.

Her mother looks suspiciously at each of them, watching their every move. 

Mulan is sure she won’t find anything. She directs Chien-Po close to the biscuit she has made with her grandma, Yao close to the window so he doesn’t get antsy for being too long indoor and Ling close to her grandma so he can tell all the stories he wants and will always have an attentive audience. When she is finished she sits between her parents. 

“Let’s have tea” she announces brightly.

She watches Yao smug face and wonders what it is about. 

It’s awkward, her father tries to start a conversation but most of his efforts are unsuccessful. Mulan could have told him, she is tempted to start a conversation of her own, one she is sure would please her three friends. It would however, displeased her mother very much. 

So instead she serves more tea and tries to keep her composure at her friends’ attempt to be… proper gentlemen. 

By miracle her mother asks the easiest question of the afternoon.

“How did you become my daughter’s _friends_?”

She almost spits the word.

“With strength and discipline” answers automatically the three of them.

Her father looks at her with open curiosity embed in his face. She can feel her neck blush but smiles proudly.

“What does it mean?” asks her mother, it seems the simultaneous answer made her loose her edge.

“Our esteemed Captain” starts Ling.

“Now General” interrupts Yao.

Ling lets him with a good-natured shrug, he is used to it by now. Yao loves giving tidbits of details in the story.

“Had shoot an arrow at the top of a pole.”

“10 feet high, at least.”

“And asked us to retrieve it, one after the other. But before we could start he weighted us with two metal disks.”

“Easily 60 ponds each.”

“Called them Strength and Discipline, told us we needed both to climb up.”

Her mother looks horrified but her father looks impressed. 

“None of us could do it” comments Chien-Po.

“Yeah” confirms Ling. “That pretty much sum up three month of training. Captain Shang giving us a pretty impossible task and us failing.”

“Was better after a while” comments Yao, “Exercises were not so hard but the dammed arrow was still out of reach. And this twig here” he shows Mulan with an accusing finger “one night, climbs it like it’s just a walk in the park.”

“It wasn’t” protests meekly Mulan, “but I could not give up.”

“If the runt of the litter could do what we couldn’t, then he had something special than we hadn’t” concludes Yao under every ones horrified stare. 

Yao sips at his tea unaware of the attention.

Ling face palms and mutters against all the gods while Chien-Po smiles indulgently. Mulan tries not to laugh nervously, she was expecting such a comments from them; her parents disapproving frown is enough to sober her.

“Couldn’t leave him get hurt after that” adds Yao. “Bad luck”

“Him” mutters Mulan’s mother. 

“Him, her. It doesn’t matter; a friend is a friend.”

Fa Zhou rises an eyebrow and glance at his daughter. 

“A friend indeed” is all he says.

Mulan smiles faintly.

“She saved our life a couple of time too” says Yao, still blissfully unaware of his mishap. He punches Ling on his shoulder.

“Oye, tell them about the concubine stuff instead of hiding” he orders.

Ling stares at him dumbfounded. 

“We can’t tell them that!” he shrieks.

Yao winks at Mulan.

“The Emperor was kidnapped” started Chien-Po with a serene voice.

“Didn’t we agree we would make a good impression?” asks Ling almost desperately.

“Couldn’t find a way in” says Yao gruffly.

“But of course Mulan was here to help us.”

Finally Ling gave up. 

“Stop it you two. At least leave the storytelling to a professional.”

He rises from his seat and rolls his shoulder. Ling clears his throat and starts all over again. 

“We were prisoners of our own hubris” he says. “Incapable of rescuing the Child of the Earth and Sky”

“Old Child if you ask me” mutters Yao.

“Until suddenly we heard our friend whistling for our attention. She had found a way in. Of course we could not go inside the palace dressed as soldiers, it was too conspicuous.”

Ling mimes himself with armor and a deadly weapon in his hand. 

“So our dear friend found us some disguises. And so we borrowed from the palace three concubine’s dress, with sturdy scarf to lift ourselves up the Palace’s column.” 

He turns on himself showing the imaginary silk, swaying his hips exuberantly. 

“Delicate and Refined” says Mulan and against all odds her mother snorts. Her grandma is openly laughing while her father lets a small smile bloom on his lips.

“So here we are” continues Ling “dressed in the finest silk that could be found on the realm, closing on the Huns guarding the door where the infamous Shan You had barricaded himself with the emperor. Mulan’s plan was working perfectly until suddenly...”

He stops and crouches closer to the table, ready to deliver a confidence. Mulan’s parents are listening avidly to their daughter’s surprise. 

“They called us Ugly” laments Ling, faking a faint toward Chien-Po. Of course Chien-Po catches him with easy practice. 

Yao growls. “As if they had any frame of reference”

“What then?” asks Mulan’s Grandma.

“Well, we incapacitated them of course; quite effectively since they didn’t wake up for long hours. Then our valiant Captain and his loyal soldier jumped in and stopped Shan Yu from killing our dear Emperor.”

A discreet knock on the door interrupts him and Mulan’s mother gets up to see what it is. She comes back with a little frown on her face.

“We need to live or we will be late for your meeting with the physician.”

Mulan is thoroughly surprised and she is not the only one. They have spent almost two hours in the same room mulling over their tea. 

“Go then” says Mulan’s Grandma. “I’m keeping an eye on this lot.”

Mulan’s mother eyes the three soldiers before she nods slowly; gathering what her husband would need for his appointment.

As soon as her parents leave the room, her Grandma announces how tired she is and retires in her room. 

Mulan falls in her friends’ arm with laugh on her mouth and tears in her eyes. 

“By all the gods, this was hard” breaths Ling. 

“Please, everybody loves this story” downplays Yao.

“You almost made it impossible!” shrieks Ling.

“We succeed and it is all that matter” says Chien-Po wisely. “You look well” he then says to Mulan. 

She nods, still a bit too emotional to trust her own voice.


	8. Interlude - Mushu

If Mushu had nails he would have bitten them to blood. But Mushu didn’t so he had to find other ways to deal with his nerve. 

Mulan had been more than worried in the passing hours waiting for the three idiots to arrive. 

It was a benediction that the shrimp – Ling - was so good with his words; in total opposition with Yao. 

Of course the bull shaped man had his own use; perfect to hide behind in case of avalanche for example. 

He was lucky Mushu could not intervene in most situation since they had come back home. He would have burn him to a crisp just for him to shut up. 

Chien-Po was a reliable resource too but he was very slow; like a mountain. 

Mushu allowed himself to breathe in and out to calm down; this had been a bit too hard on his poor little heart. How was he supposed to live all eternity if those stupid humans kept giving him heart attack?

And Mulan who had stayed silent almost all the time! 

She had changed so much in so little time. From the moment she had stepped back into her childhood home she had been subdued.

Mushu had been worried, almost as much as when she had been training in the middle of hostile strangers. Her dedication to honor her family in battle had fulfilled her but going back and trying her hardest to be a good daughter had taken a bigger toll that they expected. She had been fading: barely eating and sleeping only when she had exhausted her body. 

He was only a dragon; he could not fight her fights. Mushu had lived thousands of lives already. Before his unhappy experience with the decapitation he had guarded over the Fa clan for decades; never once had he guarded a woman though. 

He understood why. No guardian would keep his calm while their ward were downside again and again, despite her best effort. He liked Mulan’s mum all right but she was such a sticker for the rules. She did not understand that Mulan was outside the rules; she transcended them; made them outdated. 

Mulan was a soldier and a woman; if she had been a man she would have gain her own military distinction. 

Mulan was smart and a woman; if she had been a man she would have been a strategist or a scholar.

Mushu saw with his own eyes how determinate, how astute she could be. His mission was not over. It would be over the day her Mulan would receive the honor she was due.


	9. Step aside

Fa Zhou knows without a doubt where his daughter is. 

She has been training from dawn under the tree, the farthest she can be from the house without being suspicious. He once compared her to one of the flower, waiting her own time to bloom. He muses if it was time or duress which helped her. 

He observes her from afar, blending with the garden; her posture is perfectly still. She is strong and swift, repeating her drills to perfection, unbothered by her skirt or her constricting collar. He never saw her so sure of herself, so perfectly at ease with her own body; even more when dressed like a woman. She is good. Fa Zhou was a fighter before his wound, he can see. 

He wonders what Li Shang can see in her. 

Fa Zhou retires from his hiding place and decides to visit the young General; after all, his physician said he needed exercise for his leg. 

While walking toward the casern – it’s only a few miles away from his home – he wonders why Li Shang did not come back after giving back Fa Zhou’s helmet. The young man was obviously hoping for an alliance. It seems strange he would not pursue his interest further while being so close. 

Maybe he doesn’t want to marry Mulan, thinks Fa Zhou when he enters the military camp. He discards it immediately… and is almost struck by a flying cadet, Wu Yao in the middle of dumbstruck youngsters.

Well, time flew by, but the military is still the same. 

“And that is the reason why you don’t insult your commanding officer where he can hear you” says Wang Ling, casually laid on a rice bag, cutting his nails with a knife. It was unnecessary dramatic to Fa Zhou’s opinion. 

Luo Chien Po notices him first and with a friendly smile offers him a chair that Fa Zhou takes thankfully his leg more painful by the exercise than he had anticipated. 

He is offered tea and with a gentle hold Luo Chien Po puts his leg on a low stool. 

“It could take a while” he says. “Yao is on a good mood.”

“I could take you three at a time, boys” claims Wu Yao, “without taking off my shirt.”

“I have known you more ambitious” says Li Shang who appears from nowhere.

All the cadet bow in front of him while Wu Yao and Wang Ling only nod. Surprisingly the General doesn’t admonish them for the lack of protocol. He just smiles and pats Wu Yao on the shoulder.

“I appreciate you taking care of all those young recruits Yao, but try not to damage them too much.”

It only takes a moment for the Hero of China to spot him seated in the chair but this moment is enough to change his whole demeanor. 

“Honorable Fa Zhou. What are you doing here? Not that you are not allowed, of course you are. But I was not expecting you.” His confidence deflates and he is suddenly a sputtering mess. Interesting. 

“I thought about visiting. We missed you since your last visit.”

It was a bold statement for Fa Zhou since his daughter had not said a word about Li Shang even when heavily pressured by her mother and grand mother. He did not claim to know what would make Mulan happy – not anymore – but a marriage between the Li and Fa family would be very beneficial. Li Shang already knew her secret and still respected her. It was the obvious choice; hence the boldness. 

Li Shang blushes and nods toward Wu Yao to go back to their training. He then walks away from the cadets.

Fa Zhou gets up and follows the general to his tent, Luo Chien Po close behind him, making sure he is not stumbling on anything.

“I will make sure you won’t be disturb” states Luo Chien Po as he let them.


	10. Going with the tide

Shang is nervous. He tries not to show it, poorly.

“Your men are very loyal” says the honorable Fa Zhou, sitting on a pillow.

“I trust them with my life” answers Shang with as much confidence as he can muster. “They saved my life more than once. She did too you know? ”

It doesn’t offend or even surprise her father. He even smiles fondly.

“She always has been very… fierce” says the honorable Fa Zhou.

“How is her injury?”

Shang wants to hit himself when he sees the genuine surprise in honorable Fa Zhou’s face. 

“I mean…” he tries.

“I wasn’t aware she had been hurt.” Honorable Fa Zhou stares blankly at him and suddenly Sang is ready to disclose all China’s secret, to be sure this man doesn’t hate him.

“It’s how we found out about her being a she… I mean a woman. Not that we saw her naked or anything, but her belly was sliced by Shan Yu. I mean… it wasn’t mortal obviously.”

The more he talks the more he wishes himself to shut up. 

“That girl” sighs the honorable Fa Zhou “she didn’t even tell me about it.”

“She doesn’t want to worry you” says Shang. 

“I am her father, I am supposed to worry.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“You have been her Captain” suddenly says honorable Fa Zhou. “You trained her well.”

Shang winces but nods. It was not always easy, especially at the beginning. He would say he should have known she was a woman since Mulan was such a bad cadet but to be fair so were most of the recruits. She ended up being one of the best. It is difficult to balance the image he has of her in red silk and in armor. 

“She was different” muses Shang. “When I visited.”

Shy, reserved… Shang had felt like something was missing. He sees the honorable Fa Zhou frowns and wonders if he what he said was stupid.

“Is it the reason why you have not visited since?”

Shang feels awkward, the truth is, he doesn’t want her to be different; the woman he loved rode in front of him, warned him the Emperor was in danger with no care in the world. He wants the brave and … yes fierce woman who fought against Shan Yu and won, the woman who ran from the safety of the mountain to trigger an avalanche. Not the pale little thing he saw last time.

It seems his silence is like an answer for the honorable Fa Zhou.


End file.
